Sentenced to Marriage

Chapter 119

Entering another battle It came to me as a shock. When I initially heard the story about how his relationship with Lanfen ended, it seemed tragic, yet it left some room for misunderstanding. I should have known that Aren wouldn’t want to tell me every single detail of their relationship. No man would want to dwell on the subject that made him broken. Nonetheless, Lanfen had miscalculated. She was confident that Aren didn’t have any evidence against her. She thought that as long as she blamed it all on her family, she still had a chance with Aren. Over my dead body! I would not let her get anywhere near my husband!

I was mad at myself that I didn’t see right through her from the start. I should have trusted my instincts, and at that moment, I made a promise to myself that I would always listen to whatever my gut feelings told me. Aren was supposed to come back to New York on Thursday, and we were going to fly together to China on Friday afternoon. In the meantime, he sent me a few details about his family, which I decided to study thoroughly. I learned that Aren’s mother, Liling, had two older brothers, Lan Chen, who was the oldest, and Lan Peng, who was two years younger. It could have been natural if Lan Chen had become the heir to the Lan family, taking over the wealth and the highest position in Lan Wang Corporation, but the old Lan Jing had other plans. Aren’s grandfather wanted Liling to become the head of the Lan family. The youngest daughter of the Lan family had been considered a prodigy in economics and business. Her brothers didn’t like the idea, especially since it helped create all kinds of rumors of their incompetence… or even impotence, because their younger sister was about to take over a position that, in general opinion, belonged to a man. Lan Chen had never hidden his disapproval of his father’s idea, claiming that the old man was trying to take away something that was supposed to be his.

Lan Peng had also been opposed to the idea of Liling becoming the family’s heir, yet he had been less ambitious than his brother and had rather supported Lan Chen. As for Liling, it seemed like she wanted to become the CEO of Lan Wang Corporation, and she worked hard from an early age to achieve that. What happened after she had met Jame mystery to me. I could only guess that it was love that changed

her. It was as if he had put a spell on her. She fell in love with him so deeply that she was willing to give up on her bright future just to be with him. Well… I already knew how her love ended.

Without Liling as Lan Jing’s favorite, it was expected that Lan Chen would become an heir and take over the company, but the old man delayed the process, claiming that he was too young to retire. Lan Chen’s dreams of power had tragically ended three years ago when he got a stroke and had been paralyzed ever since. From that moment, Chen’s ambitions were passed to his son, Caishen, and it looked like he was Aren’s main competitor to become the heir of the Lan family. Of course, there was also Aren’s uncle, Lan Peng, and his two sons, Peizhi and Weimin, but the notes that Aren had given me didn’t concern them as a threat.

Aren also sent me another file concerning the schedule of our visit to Lans’ mansion in Shanghai. It appeared that we had been given a specific time when we were supposed to arrive and unpack inside our rooms. There was also a time reserved for the private audience in Lan Jing’s cabinet as if Aren’s grandfather was a king or a pope. It started to freak me out a bit, but the most terrifying thing was the language barrier. Aren assured me that his whole family spoke English fluently, but it didn’t necessarily apply to the guests at the birthday party. I hated the fact that I would most likely be treated as ignorant, but then again, I just couldn’t see myself learning Chinese, not to mention that I had three days… Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

I spent my remaining days before Lan Jing’s birthday party enhancing and updating my security software. It took my mind off from thinking how lost in translation I would surely become, but it was dreadfully boring. It made me realize that I actually missed the adrenalin 1 felt over the last few weeks. After Ala, Norton, and I passed all the evidence against the Blue Dreamland, it felt like we had nothing else to do except analyzing data. When Jack suddenly called us to pass the news about the effects of the investigation, it quickly became the highlight of the day,

“It’s done. Turn on channel 4 and see them all taken away in cuffs.” Jack’s mischievous chuckle announced that he and the cyber-crime agents did the job.

As we turned on the news, we saw the board of Blue Dreamland directors being led away by the police and federal agents. The names of the hackers remained unknown, but it was certain who hired them. As we had provided the FBI and the police with enough evidence for them to get the search warrant, they quickly found other, more serious proof of Blue Dreamland’s illegal activity. We felt proud to know that we started the avalanche which had become the end of that plagiarizing company. I grinned wickedly as I recognized the two men who had corrupted our former executives being dragged by the police officers out of the office building. I almost felt sorry for them; not only would they be sentenced to time in prison but also be sued by Lan Diamond Corporation. Karma was a real bitch in their case.

“The police and the FBI are yet to find the main shareholder of the Blue Dreamland Corporation, who appears in the documentation under a false name.” We heard the news reporter say. “That fact has only been discovered during the investigation and is also one of the elements of the long list of accusations against the company, its board of directors, and its shareholders.”

Alan shook his head in disbelief. “Wow… this is so messed up. Can you imagine the reason why someone wouldn’t want to reveal his real name while being the main shareholder of a successful company?”

Norton shrugged. “He most likely wanted to avoid paying taxes.”

Alan gave him the look. “Taxes my ass. I bet that the guy had a criminal record.”

I looked at them both and chuckled. “Well, it doesn’t really matter who that guy is. He has all of the authorities chasing him. It doesn’t concern us.”

Alan raised his eyebrows at me. “Aren’t you at least curious? Besides, Blue Dreamland was clearly targeting Lan Diamond Corporation and it had to be for a reason.” I sighed. “Look, I know that you seek sensation since our job has suddenly become boring, but Lan Diamond Corporation is a huge player in the market. The company has a lot of competitors and a lot of enemies simply because it is big and it

always takes the biggest part of the cake. Money makes people envious. It doesn’t have to be personal.” I said it, but I wasn’t sure that I believed it myself.

Nonetheless, we decided to brighten our day at work and drink a glass of champagne to celebrate the end of the thieves who tried to steal Lan Diamond Corporation’s projects. Since we managed to finish all our assignments quickly, I told the boys to leave the office earlier while I went to the top floor to help Neil a bit.

“Thank God you are here, Mrs. Lan!” he cried out as he saw me. I chuckled and, without a word, took a pile of documents to review from him. I knew that

Neil’s days at work were becoming more hectic every time Aren was away. I had already learned how to deal with all of this while being a temporary CEO and was glad that I could make Neil’s work a little easier. Certainly, my help remained a secret that Aren could never know about…

It was 10 PM when Neil and I finished all the work. I texted Benjamin a few minutes earlier and told him to wait for me at the underground parking lot. I felt that it was a productive day,

enough not to think of how badly I missed my husband, but now, as I was going down the elevator, my longing returned, and I wished it was Thursday already..

I walked into the parking lot and went straight to the CEO’s spot, but the place was empty, just like the rest of the spots at this hour. I looked around, but I couldn’t see Benjamin’s black Bentley anywhere. I pulled out my phone to call my driver-slash-bodyguard but suddenly realized that I had no signal…

“What the hell?” I muttered under my breath, looking at the phone.

I was about to turn and walk back to the elevator when a hand in a leather glove clamped my mouth shut, and I was grabbed from behind. I flinched and shivers ran down my spine, but then I recalled everything that Aren and Chris had taught me. I hit the attacker’s ribs with my elbow and stabbed my

heel in his foot. He roared viciously, releasing me from his grip. I thought that this was my chance to escape, but before I took a single step or screamed for help, I felt a sudden sting in my neck. I gasped and turned around, instantly feeling dizzy. I saw a man wearing a black cap, a devilish grin crossing his mouth. He was holding a syringe with a needle that he just stabbed me with. I staggered as I tried to step away from him.

“What did you do to me?” I muttered as my vision became blurry and my body weakened. I swayed on my feet, trying to clench my teeth in anger, yet losing control over my body. The man stepped closer, chuckling as he grabbed me in his arms. “I put you to sleep, gorgeous. I wanted to kill your precious husband, but I guess you will have to pay for his sins instead of

him.”

My eyes widened in terror as I finally matched the face to the voice. “Haskett…”